Food Dispensing Device

ABSTRACT

The invention is a handheld device for storing and dispensing a portion of a food product, such as a stick of butter, easily and evenly onto a hot pan, grill, toast, sandwiches, vegetables, or any hot or cold item. The invention has a housing with an internal cavity into which the food product may be placed, with a piston which is used to advance the food product toward an outflow end of the housing. An end cap may be placed over the outflow end of the housing, trapping the food product within the housing in a cavity between the cap and the piston, keeping the food product fresh between uses. The sides of the tubular housing are flexible, allowing the piston to be held within the housing at a desired location.

This application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/386,859, filed Dec. 14, 2015.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention is in the field of cooking tools and utensils, specifically devices for the dispensing of butter in a solid block form, commonly referred to as a stick. While the term “butter” is used herein, the invention is intended to cover dispensing of butter, margarine and any other spreadable food products that may be provided in a block.

BACKGROUND

Cutting chunks off of a cold stick of butter with a knife is difficult. The amount of butter removed from the stick is hard to control. Because of the brittle nature of cold butter, upon cutting with a knife, the butter being removed often flies away and lands on the table, clothing, or the floor. Because of the difficulty of the cutting operation, precious time may be wasted as pans overheat or food gets cold. When a piece of butter is put into a hot pan, it is very difficult to get it to evenly cover the bottom and lower sides of the pan, without either burning some of the butter or having the cook shift the pan around to have gravity move the butter. On a large grill, the problems are compounded because there is no adequate way to get even coverage of precise amounts of butter onto specific areas of the grill, resulting in wasted butter and messy cleanups of the grill. The combination of existing problems including the lack of portion control, difficulty of use, and the lack of a way to evenly distribute butter onto hot or cold items using the traditional method of cutting portions of butter off of a larger cold stick of butter with a knife are solved by this invention.

Dispensers suitable for sticks of material such as butter are well known in prior art. Still, none have adequately addressed the challenges of ease of use, high reliability, simplicity, low cost, ease of cleaning, ability to evenly dispensing butter directly onto hot or cold items, and optionally providing air-tight storage between uses. The invention consists in certain novel features of construction, use, and in the combination and arrangement of parts.

Prior devices have used a tubular housing to contain the butter, and a piston which is moved within the housing to extrude the butter through the outflow end of the housing. But, unlike the invention, many of these prior devices restrict the butter from passing unimpeded through the outflow end of the housing by introducing members that obscure the opening, including but not limited to forcing the butter through a small opening so it extrudes as a star, heart, ribbon, or bar. Constricting the outflow end of the housing necessitates that a large force be applied to a piston or other mechanism to extrude the butter. To produce the required force the piston is often attached to rods, ratchets, levers, gears, and the like, which may be expensive to manufacture and assemble, hard to clean, and easy to break. Because they typically move the butter in one direction, toward the outflow end of the housing, any extruded butter that is not used is wasted.

Devices that extrude butter in a ribbon, as a shape, or as blocks which are sliced off do little to help the butter be applied evenly and easily to a pan, grill, or piece of toast. The invention overcomes these limitations by extruding the entire cross-section of the stick of butter or other material slightly beyond the boundary of the housing (21) so that it is protruding from the outflow end of the housing and may be dispensed in whole or in part by being melted away from the rest of the butter onto a hot surface such as, but not limited to, a pan or grill; or by being torn away from the rest of the butter by being trapped in a rough surface of an item such as, but not limited to, a piece of toast, pancake, or waffle, when the item with the rough surface and the butter protruding from the end of the housing are forced to rub against one another while in contact; or by any combination of the butter being melted and torn away from the rest of the butter or torn away with no melting having taken place because the item it is being applied to is cold.

Other prior devices include a specific purpose dispenser for applying butter to an ear of corn, where the end of the dispenser is curved to align with the shape of the ear of corn. Such devices cannot evenly dispense butter on a flat surface.

Prior dispensers were not constructed of temperature resistant materials, or materials which generally resist the conduction of heat therethrough. Consequently, prior to this invention, the focus has been on usage scenarios whereby butter is dispensed onto an ear of corn, but the focus has not been on dispensing butter onto a hot pan, grill, or flat surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention overcomes the limitations of prior devices by providing a high temperature-resistant housing for a stick of butter, with an outflow end that does not constrict or resist the outflow of the butter, resulting in a low-pressure system whereby a piston can be easily pushed by a thumb, finger or any other means to advance the piston and in turn push butter toward the outflow end of the housing. If pressure is applied to the butter from the outflow end of the housing, the butter and the piston will be easily moved back toward the entrance end of the housing, after which the outflow end of the housing can then be capped for storage between uses. The simpler mechanism used by the invention is less expensive to manufacture, more reliable, easier to clean, and can be used with one hand, freeing up the other hand for important cooking tasks.

The invention uses a novel system to hold the piston into place while butter is being applied to an item. Because the invention is a low-pressure system, the walls of the housing can be flexible to allow a user to hold the piston stationary with respect to the housing, at any position within the housing, by means of frictional engagement between the internal surface of the housing and the external surface of the piston. When the external surface of the housing is firmly grasped by hand, or by any other means, the housing will then apply pressure to the sides of the piston within the housing, securing the piston in place relative to the housing.

The invention easily coats the surface of the item evenly, and by varying the amount of time the butter is being applied onto different parts of the item, the desired amount of butter is precisely dispensed. Unlike many prior devices, the invention does not require a separate implement such as a knife or spatula to spread the butter onto the item. It not only makes dispensing butter easier and more precise in quantity and placement, but it is far faster than alternative methods, saving precious time in a busy kitchen or other setting. Another advantage of the invention is that butter is easily and evenly dispensed onto items such as toast, waffles, or pancakes which have become cold, as their rough surfaces will tear away small pieces of butter from the device and capture them onto the surface of the item.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an exploded perspective view of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a right side exploded view thereof, the left side view being a mirror image.

FIG. 2 is a side perspective exploded of the invention, showing a butter stick and the end piston removed from the housing.

FIG. 3 is an alternate perspective view of the invention, showing the end cap removed.

FIG. 4 is an additional perspective view of the invention as shown in FIG. 3, without the end cap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The invention preferably consists of an elongated housing 10, with a central open cavity 101, extending between entrance end 11 and outflow end 12. The cross section of open cavity 101 is preferably a quadrilateral, and preferably of common dimensions to accommodate a food product 20, such as a conventional stick of butter or margarine. Sides 111 of housing 10 are preferably flexible, allowing for lateral pressure on the exterior of any of sides 111 to result in an inward movement of side 111. While the cross section of open cavity 101 is preferably a quadrilateral to accommodate a conventional stick of food to be dispensed, the cross section may be circular, triangular or of any shape to accommodate the shape of the food product to be dispensed.

Housing 10 is preferably comprised of a temperature resistant material or a material which does not readily conduct thermal energy. The temperature resistant nature of the housing prevents external temperature sources, such as a cooking pan or user's hand from affecting or melting the food product within the housing.

Piston 30 is preferably located at entrance end 11, and is independent from housing 10, capable of being removed from housing 10 to allow for the butter or margarine stick 20 to be inserted into entrance end 11. Surface 32 of piston 30 is proximate to the food product 20, and operating end 31 of piston 30 is oriented away from entrance end 11 of housing 10. Operating end 31 may be of a variety of configurations, including those having decorative features. Surface 32 is preferably flat, but may also comprise one or more protrusions 320 extending outward to engage food product 20.

Removable end cap 40 is located at outflow end 12. End cap 40 is preferably sized to fit around housing 10 and outflow end 12 in a snug manner, so that end cap 40 remains attached around outflow end 12 unless dislodged with some force by the user. End cap 40 is also used to push the food product 20 back into outflow end 12 of housing 10 after use.

In the early stages of pushing end cap 40 onto outflow end 12 of housing 10, the interior walls 41 of the cap 40 make contact with the exterior of sides 111 of housing 10, trapping any food product in the space between the end cap and the housing. As end cap 40 is pushed all the way onto housing 10, end cap 40 pushes any food product protruding beyond the end of the outflow end 21 of the housing 10 back into the housing. When not being used to dispense the food product 20, the invention stores the food product inside the housing 10, between end cap 40 and piston 30. Preferably, food product 20 is stored within housing 10 to limit air, keeping the food product from becoming stale. While in a preferred embodiment of this invention the dispenser contains an end cap, the invention is also directed to devices not having an end cap.

The device is loaded by the following steps: (i) remove piston 30 from housing 10, (ii) place end cap 40 onto the outflow end 12 of the housing 10, (iii) insert a portion of a stick of butter or other food product 20 into the housing from the entrance end 11, and (iv) place piston 30 into the housing at the entrance end 11. The device can be re-loaded when empty by repeating these steps.

Once the product has been placed into the housing, the device may be used by the following steps, using butter as the food product in this example: (i) refrigerate the device and the butter contained therein to keep the food product fresh and to stiffen it, (ii) remove the device from the refrigerator and remove end cap 40, (iii) advance piston 30 and butter (food product 20) toward the outflow end 12 of the housing by applying a pressure upon the piston 30 from the entrance end 11 of the housing using a finger or thumb, (iv) grasp the housing 10 firmly so as to cause the piston therein 30 to be locked into a stationary position by virtue of static friction with sides 111, (v) apply butter to an item, such as a cooking pan or piece of bread, by rubbing the butter protruding from the outflow end 21 of the housing against the item while they are in contact, (vi) release the pressure being exerted on the outside of the housing by a firm grasp and push the butter that is protruding from the outflow end 21 of the housing back into the housing by applying a pressure onto the surface of the butter by pushing it against the item being buttered, or by pushing end cap 40 back onto the outflow end of the housing, thereby moving the butter and the piston 30 back into the housing toward the entrance end 11, and (vii) return the device to the refrigerator.

While certain novel features of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. 

I claim:
 1. A dispenser for a solid food product, the dispenser comprising: an elongated housing comprising an entrance end, an outflow end, elongated side panels extending between the entrance end and the outflow end, and an internal cavity extending between the entrance end and the outflow end and within the elongated side panels; a piston capable of entering and moving within the internal cavity; and an end cap capable of covering the outflow end of the elongated housing.
 2. The dispenser of claim 1, where the elongated side panels are capable of flexing inward toward the internal cavity.
 3. The dispenser of claim 1, where the internal cavity is capable of containing a stick of butter or margarine.
 4. The dispenser of claim 1, where the elongated housing is comprised of thermal resistant material.
 5. The dispenser of claim 1, where the piston is comprised of an internal face and an external face, where the internal face further comprises protrusions capable of engaging the solid food product.
 6. A dispenser for a stick of butter or margarine, the dispenser comprising: an elongated tubular housing surrounding an internal cavity, the housing and cavity extending between an entrance end and an outflow end, where the housing is comprised of flexible elongated side panels, and the internal cavity, entrance end and outflow end have a consistent shape capable of containing the stick of butter or margarine; a piston capable of moving within the internal cavity; and an end cap capable of covering the outflow end.
 7. The dispenser of claim 6, where the housing is comprised of thermal resistant material.
 8. The dispenser of claim 6, where the piston is comprised of an internal face and an external face, where the internal face further comprises protrusions capable of engaging the solid food product.
 9. A dispenser for a solid food product, the dispenser comprising: an elongated housing comprising an entrance end, an outflow end, an elongated side extending between the entrance end and the outflow end, and an internal cavity extending between the entrance end and the outflow end and surrounded by the elongated side; and a piston capable of entering and moving within the internal cavity.
 10. A dispenser of claim 9, further comprising an end cap capable of covering the outflow end. 